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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Google's stock roared out of a long slumber Friday to produce the biggest shareholder windfall in U.S. history as investors rewarded the Internet company for promising to curb its spending on risky projects.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. unveiled an ambitious pedestrian and school safety action plan Tuesday, July 14, that has been in the making for 18 months.

The plan takes in a list of $200 million in improvements to sidewalks and street crossings over 20 years. Wharton’s administration doesn’t have all the funding nailed down, and said it would likely come through a combination of grants, city capital funding and money from nonprofit philanthropies.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. unveiled an ambitious pedestrian and school safety action plan Tuesday, July 14, that has been in the making for 18 months.

The plan takes in a list of $200 million in improvements to sidewalks and street crossings over 20 years. Wharton’s administration doesn’t have all the funding nailed down, and said it would likely come through a combination of grants, city capital funding and money from nonprofit philanthropies.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the Fed is on track to start raising interest rates later this year but expressed multiple concerns over headwinds that are still holding back the U.S. economy.

Chelsea Avenue Floodwall Becomes ‘Permission Wall’: The city’s renaissance of murals is taking a different form on the section of North Memphis floodwalls that are a border of sorts for the still developing Chelsea Greenline.

Two Ohio-based development firms plan to build a new hotel on a vacant site in Downtown Memphis.

The Orlean Co. of Beachwood, Ohio, and Ceres Development LLC of Westlake, Ohio, plan on building a Cambria Suites on a 3.3-acre lot on the south side of Union across from Fourth Street, just west of Danny Thomas Boulevard.

The state-level approval process Methodist South Hospital recently cleared that allows it to pursue an $8.7 million emergency department expansion has been in legislative crosshairs in Nashville recently.

WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. manufacturing growth improved in June, helped by a jump in employment.

The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said Wednesday that its manufacturing index rose to 53.5 last month from 52.8 in May. Manufacturing activity matched January's level for the highest this year. Any reading above 50 signals expansion.

After all, he paddled a canoe from the Twin Cities to New Orleans – just him and his dog. He rode a bike to New Orleans, too, all the way down Highway 61 in the summer, the heat driving him dizzy into ditches.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Trading sharp words, a deeply divided Supreme Court upheld the use of a controversial drug in lethal-injection executions Monday, even as two dissenting justices said for the first time they think it's "highly likely" the death penalty itself is unconstitutional.

One of the first things Shea Flinn noticed when he left the Memphis City Council this year was that benches for audience members in the council chamber are less comfortable than council members’ seats.

WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. consumer spending surged in May with the biggest monthly increase in nearly six years – a sign of stronger economic growth ahead.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that consumer spending rose 0.9 percent last month, up from a revised 0.1 percent increase in April. May spending registered the biggest gain since August 2009, when the government's "Cash for Clunkers" program fueled auto-buying.

Weeks of line-item detail and swapping one amount with another in the budget, as well as the pressure of revenue and other projections that amount to moving targets in the fiscal year, give way to approved operating and capital budgets as well as a property tax rate.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy contracted in the first three months of the year, just not as much as previously estimated. More recent data show that the weakness was largely temporary, with a rebound in the works for the April-June quarter.

Memphis-based asset management firm Worthington Capital Management has launched the Worthington Funds, a series of mutual funds that the firm says will seek to “capture market inefficiencies or take advantage of secular trends.”

As Kenrick Hall on the campus of Christian Brothers University has been prepped for demolition, leaders of the university have been preparing for what follows when the 1940s-era classroom building is gone.

Jeremy Chism has joined Capital Advisors/Bellwether Enterprise as vice president to open the company’s Memphis commercial real estate loan production office. The firm provides financing solutions through a vast network of insurance companies, CMBS lenders and commercial lenders for commercial real estate.

There is the effort to sell Collierville residents on the specific plan for a $99 million comprehensive high school for 3,000 students. And then there is the effort to avoid a referendum on the $99 million bond issue that could follow approval of a property tax hike for the new school construction.

On any given day, business executives, scientists and chemical engineers from across the U.S. and around the world come to East Tennessee to see for themselves the renewable energy technology developed by Lenoir City-based Proton Power Inc.

The Crews Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Memphis currently is a hub for social entrepreneurs.

The phrase “social entrepreneur” has a somewhat loose definition, but it generally involves the use of business tools and practices to solve social concerns. And it’s a focus of a summer camp coming to the Crews Center in July in partnership with a university student-led nonprofit that’s focused on social innovation and using entrepreneurial thinking to identify solutions to the community’s social issues.

NEW YORK (AP) – Those record profits that companies are reporting may not be all they're cracked up to be.

As the stock market climbs ever higher, professional investors are warning that companies are presenting misleading versions of their results that ignore a wide variety of normal costs of running a business to make it seem like they're doing better than they really are.

Owning a building can be a turning point in the life of a nonprofit. A building represents positive attributes: permanence, ownership, longevity, visibility, stability, status and achievement. You can control your destiny, make improvements, and expand when needed. You have an asset to leverage for future projects. No one can make you move.

Not so fast with those state achievement test quick scores that went out with some students’ last report cards. Tennessee Department of Education officials said earlier this month that the figures are in most cases rosier than expected.

Absent a few individual challenges, Memphis-area banks as a collective gave off encouraging signs about their health and outlook in the first quarter, according to Federal Reserve figures.

Some of the most important metrics, like profitability, always come with a reminder by regulators that any change in performance at First Tennessee Bank, Memphis’ largest bank, can overshadow results at the rest of its smaller peer institutions. That was certainly true in the first quarter, when First Tennessee’s parent company took a loss, driven by a mortgage-related legal settlement, which resulted in the bank showing almost $65 million worth of red ink for the quarter.

At Southern Airways Express’ hub in a Memphis International Airport executive terminal, movement is at a peaceful lull.

There are no loudspeaker announcements or TSA check-in points. Patrons sip complimentary coffee. The lobby opens right onto the tarmac where a fleet of 9-passenger Cessna 208 Caravan jets land about 12 times daily.

University of Memphis senior first baseman Tucker Tubbs has been named to the Louisville Slugger NCAA Division I All-American baseball team. Tubbs is a Third Team All-America selection, as chosen by Collegiate Baseball newspaper.

Here's a look at what's going on at the dozen public companies headquartered in Memphis:

AutoZone Inc.

AutoZone Inc. is one of the largest auto parts retailers and distributors in the U.S., with a store count of 5,476 as of Feb. 14. Since 1998, the company has repurchased $15.7 billion worth of its own shares. At the end of March, AutoZone continued its share buyback program with the authorization to buy back another $750 million in company stock. The company followed that news with plans to pursue a $650 million debt offering to be used for “general corporate purposes.” – Andy Meek

The most dedicated donors to the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis give with their hearts and their minds, striking a balance between real-time needs and the financial realities of any given moment.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Core consumer prices outside of food and energy posted the biggest increase in April in more than a year, suggesting that an improving U.S. economy is finally starting to lift prices. That could prompt the Federal Reserve to start raising interest rates later this year.

When Catholic Bishop Terry Steib put on a hardhat a week ago to break ground on the Immaculate Conception Cathedral School’s new $4.2 million Cathedral Center, he had the attention of the school’s youngest students.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal Reserve policymakers largely agreed when they met last month that June would be too early to start raising interest rates, as they debated whether the economy's winter weakness would fade or persist.

University of Memphis senior first baseman Tucker Tubbs has been named to the Capital One Academic All-District First Team, the College Sports Information Directors of America have announced.

The Tigers leading power hitter, Tubbs has a .328 batting average with 14 doubles, 14 home runs and 49 RBI. Earlier this season, the Collierville High School product hit a home run in six consecutive games; that’s just two games shy of the NCAA record. He was named one of six Louisville Slugger national players of the week after the streak of consecutive games with a home run.

Nashville’s InsBank began 15 years ago, founded by a group of insurance agents. Originally, it was known as Insurors Bank of Tennessee, its target market was independent insurance agents in the state. But that has changed somewhat over the years as the bank has evolved from that particular niche.

Two very different startups speak volumes about how much the Nashville venture capital scene has changed over the years and how things are still evolving.

When Franklin-based Cybera began with three employees in 2001, it set up voice and data networks for small to medium-sized companies, using leased space on traditional telecom companies’ high-speed digital subscriber lines.

WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. shoppers kept their spending in check in April, as modest wage growth over the past year keeps family budgets tight.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that retail sales were unchanged last month after rising 1.1 percent in March. Sales have risen just 0.9 percent over the past 12 months. Steady hiring has yet to spark significantly higher incomes.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Republican Sen. Todd Gardenhire of Chattanooga, who twice voted against Medicaid expansion in Tennessee, told a newspaper that his adult son had "never" been signed up for state benefits.

University of Memphis senior first baseman Tucker Tubbs has been named to the Capital One Academic All-District First Team, the College Sports Information Directors of America have announced.

The Tigers leading power hitter, Tubbs has a .328 batting average with 14 doubles, 14 home runs and 49 RBI. Earlier this season, the Collierville High School product hit a home run in six consecutive games; that’s just two games shy of the NCAA record. He was named one of six Louisville Slugger national players of the week after the streak of consecutive games with a home run.

Jeff Sanford has spent much of the past five years consulting on redevelopment projects in other cities.

But Sanford – who stepped down from his post as president of the Center City Commission, now the Downtown Memphis Commission, in 2010 – hasn’t found another entertainment district comparable to Memphis’ most famous street.

Triumph Bank found itself at the end of April with a second straight record-breaking month for its mortgage division, with Triumph Mortgage having funded more units and loan volume in the month than during any other in the bank’s history.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. trade deficit in March swelled to the highest level in more than six years, propelled by a flood of imports that may have sapped the U.S. economy of any growth in the first quarter.

When John Michels was a kid going to nature camps with his family and hiking with his brother and cousins, he was taking the first steps along his career path.

“We’d sort of learn how to survive in the woods and build shelters, learn about ecosystems,” Michels said of his days growing up in New Jersey, and then later trips to upstate New York by Lake George. “I started doing a lot of hiking in the Adirondack Mountains.

The idea of an Overton Square hotel has long been a part of plans for the Midtown entertainment district, which marks the 45th anniversary of its founding this month.

Seven years after the district’s first hotel, the French Quarter Inn, closed its doors for good, there are plans for a new five-story, 134-suite Hotel Overton on the same northeast corner of Madison Avenue and North Cooper Street.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Orders to U.S. factories rose in March for the first time since last July, breaking a long stretch of weakness in manufacturing.

Orders increased 2.1 percent following seven monthly declines, the Commerce Department reported Monday. And in further good news, orders in a key category that tracks business investment plans eked out a 0.1 percent rise. It was the first advance in this category since last August.

U.S. consumers boosted spending in March by the largest amount in four months, a hopeful sign that this key sector of the economy is reviving after a frigid winter.

Consumer spending increased 0.4 percent in March, the strongest gain since a similar increase in November, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.Spending fell in December and January before climbing a modest 0.2 percent in February.

Last week, the Nasdaq, the S&P 500 and the New York Stock Exchange composite indexes all hit new historic highs, bolstered by falling rate hike expectations. In the market environment of the day, economic softness causing falling revenues and falling prices (see first-quarter earnings season) holds less influence than falling interest rates.

Shelby County Commissioners have created their own two-month summer jobs program for 65 teenagers and college-aged adults and voted Monday, April 27, to fund it over two summers with $169,127 from the commission’s contingency fund.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton takes an operating budget proposal of more than $622 million to the Memphis City Council Tuesday, April 21.

The proposed budget will be larger than the current fiscal year’s budget, reflecting Wharton’s belief that the city has enough of its fiscal crisis behind it at this point to slowly begin reinvesting in areas such as public safety and street paving.

Mattel, the toy company behind the plastic dolls, said there were some signs of improving demand for Barbie ahead of its planned makeover of the brand, including Barbie dolls with different skin tones, eye colors and nose shapes to better relate to multicultural girls and their mothers.

General Electric is leaving the lending business, a major source of both profit and risk, as it continues to whittle its focus down to an industrial core.

The company said Friday that it will sell most of its GE Capital assets over the next two years, shedding businesses in a sector where it has had a tough time generating acceptable returns. GE also plans to repurchase as much as $50 billion of its own stock.

Starting in August, a new crop of would-be farmers will settle in for a few months of classroom instruction led by the Roots Memphis Farm Academy, a sustainable farming incubator working to train and launch new farmers in the Memphis area.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Fed officials disagreed widely when they met last month on when they would be ready to lift interest rates from record lows.

Minutes of the March 17-18 meeting released Wednesday reveal that several policymakers predicted a rate hike in June, while others concerned about low inflation didn't think a rate hike would be warranted until later this year. Still others said the economy wouldn't be strong enough for an increase until 2016.

Memphis City Council members get their first look Tuesday, April 7, at a new strategy for the Memphis Police Department as well as Memphis Mayor A C Wharton’s choices for the new Beale Street Tourism Development Authority.

Highland Capital has acquired the assets of ICC Capital Management, a combination that increases client assets under management at Highland to $2.8 billion. As a result, Highland’s parent company, Louisiana-based wealth management firm Argent Financial Group, is now responsible for client assets of more than $11 billion.

Memphis architecture firm archimania is inching closer to building a new headquarters and apartment development in the South Main neighborhood Downtown.

Archimania hopes to build a 5,000-square-foot office building, a 20-space surface parking lot and a six-unit apartment building at 705 S. Main St., which is located southeast of the Main and East Carolina Avenue intersection.

On the golf course, a 20-foot putt rolls on a green, slows down, collides with the right half of the hole, spins 360 degrees along the rim, and winds up hanging on the front edge of its destination. “Call nine-one-one!” a player says. “You were robbed!”

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Target Corp. said Tuesday that it is laying off 1,700 workers and eliminating another 1,400 unfilled positions as part of a restructuring aimed at saving $2 billion over the next two years.

WASHINGTON (AP) – A burst of hiring in February underscored the resilience and confidence of U.S. businesses, which are adding workers at the fastest pace in 17 years. Yet the strong job gains did little to raise wages last month.

Businesses looking for office space in Nashville are learning a painful lesson that homebuyers already know – prices are high, and if you take time to shop around for a better deal, someone else is likely to snap up the property, leaving you out in the cold.

The owners of Southbrook Mall got $1.5 million in improvements from City Hall this week. But it wasn’t the $1.5 million the owners of the Whitehaven mall wanted in 2012, when the city contemplated giving them that sum to fix the roof and make repairs to the mall’s heating and air conditioning system.

Capital campaigns are usually about buildings. And the just-completed capital campaign at Rhodes College includes a new science building that will break ground in the summer and complete the quadrangle of the private liberal arts college’s scenic campus.

Sale Date: Feb. 23, 2015Buyer: 495 Tennessee LLCSeller: BCH Investments LLCDetails: The team behind the development of the historic Tennessee Brewery has acquired a key piece of property adjacent to the long-vacant structure as plans for the new Tennessee Brewery: The Revival series of events there move forward.

In April, Rachel Diller, managing director of the urban investment group at Goldman Sachs, received a phone call in her New York office from officials at Phoenix-based Dudley Ventures.

The executives at Dudley Ventures, which specializes in large tax-credit supported projects, were arranging financing for the $200 million effort to transform the old Sears Crosstown property and wanted to know if the New York-based investment bank was interested.